DR MARC SIEGEL: How AA, faith and science align with Trump’s fight against addiction

I applaud President Donald Trump’s Jan. 29 executive order known as the Great American Recovery Initiative, but I think it should be renamed the Bill W. and Dr. Bob Initiative, after the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous. Both men suffered from severe alcoholism until a fateful day in December 1934, when Bill Wilson experienced a spiritual awakening — described as a blinding white light — after demanding that God show Himself. Bill also described the sensation of standing on a mountain with the wind of the Spirit blowing through him, and he instantly felt liberated, his obsession with alcohol gone.

This conversion experience formed the basis for Bill W.’s spiritual transformation and recovery from alcoholism, and it led to the core 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous, which Bill W. co-founded in June 1935 with Dr. Robert Smith. Dr. Bob also suffered from severe alcoholism, and Bill W. helped him quit. By that June, Dr. Bob had taken his final drink. Together with Sister Ignatia, Dr. Bob helped transfer his freedom from alcohol to others, providing medical care and physical guidance to thousands of alcoholics in Akron, Ohio, and around the country.

The reason I believe President Trump’s initiative could be called the Bill W. and Dr. Bob Initiative is because, like AA, it recognizes the importance of community, health and faith. These elements must be central tenets of the plan for it to be successful. The White House announcement states its goal is ‘to coordinate a national response to the disease of addiction across government, health care, faith communities and the private sector in order to save lives, restore families, strengthen our communities and build the Great American Recovery.’

Trump’s initiative was soon followed this week by the HHS $100 million Safety Through Recovery, Engagement and Evidence-based Treatment and Supports (STREETS) program, which will focus on addiction, mental health, homelessness and crisis intervention. 

This is a much-needed program and I was glad to see it spearheaded by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., himself a recovered heroin addict, along with his cousin, former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, a recovering alcoholic whom I have interviewed and found to be a powerful and convincing voice for recovery.

The reason I believe President Trump’s initiative could be called the Bill W. and Dr. Bob Initiative is because, like AA, it recognizes the importance of community, health and faith. 

Keep in mind that denial is a key part of the problem for most addicts, and deep faith, along with role modeling, is a critical way to overcome that denial. As the White House pointed out in its fact sheet, ‘48.4 million Americans, or 16.8% of our nation’s population, suffer from addiction, yet very few who need treatment receive it or believe they need it.’

During President Trump’s first term, in 2019, when he declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency, he also acknowledged that his brother Fred had ‘a very, very, very tough life’ before succumbing to alcoholism and heart disease. Trump said the same to me when I interviewed him at the White House in July 2020, and I could see how deeply the loss affected him personally.

Trump’s heart is clearly in the right place when it comes to the current initiative — and he is not alone. The announcement of the new federal plan to combat drug and alcohol addiction included Kathryn Burgum, a former alcoholic and the wife of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, as well as United State Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, who told the story of his son dying from a drug overdose during the event.

Raising awareness is a lofty goal, along with acknowledging just how hard addictions are to break. The role of faith and the church must be emphasized, but so too must the scientific tools that enable miraculous recoveries — from buprenorphine, a partial opioid agonist, to naltrexone, an opioid antagonist that blocks both euphoria and craving. GLP-1 agonists are also showing promise in decreasing cravings for alcohol and drugs and reducing alcohol consumption, in part by delaying gastric emptying. Medically assisted therapy for opioids — specifically methadone, naltrexone and buprenorphine — has been shown to reduce opioid-related deaths by more than 50%.

As I wrote in my new book, ‘The Miracles Among Us,’ so-called soft miracles arise from an intricate combination of science and faith.

All these tools must be paid for, and the federal government should help make them more available. Indeed, every primary care physician like me should have the unrestricted ability to prescribe these lifesaving medications, and every major church and synagogue should have a federally subsidized recovery program for drug and alcohol addiction.

Addiction destroys not just individuals, but entire families and communities. Recovery from addiction is a multi-pronged process involving faith, access to quality health care and committed leaders who can relate to the problem. 

Ninety years after Bill W. and Dr. Bob started us down the path toward beating addiction, their caring, spiritual approach is more important than ever.